My July in Media

July was a mixed bag, mostly lackluster but with a few surprising gems. Wait, that description actually goes for my entire life this month?

Rewatch: Fright Night. Truly one of my favorite movies of all time.

Straight Up
I really wanted to like this movie, but...I think I hated it? The dialogue and main characters were exhausting. It had heart and I got what it was trying to do, but ultimately, it just made me tired and kind-of annoyed.

Rewatch: Super 8 (still an under-appreciated delight), Panic Room (I liked it less this time, but it's still  mid-level Fincher).

George Lopez: We'll Do It For Half
I grew up in Texas, where Spanish is integrated into a lot of things. My dad in particular, due to the environments he was raised in and has worked in, has always mixed slang Spanish into his vocabulary. So, I think I've always enjoyed George Lopez's specials because that casual back-and-forth between languages is familiar to me. Not all of his jokes are funny, but I get the humor behind all of them.

Abducted in Plain Sight
This documentary is freaking bananas. You should have to take some sort of gullibility test before you have children.

Rewatch: Spotlight. I rewatched this on Election Day to get myself psyched about the importance of journalism before working until 2 a.m. It worked.

Palm Springs
I liked this movie. I thought it was cute and also Andy Samberg is cute and could have good chemistry with a rock. I can't fault it for anything. But I also don't get why everyone's so gaga about it? It has a pretty straight-forward, paint-by-numbers plot for both the rom-com and time-loop genres. I think everyone is just starved for something sweet, which is...fair.

The Claudia Kishi Club
This was an extremely sweet look at the impact varied representation has on kids. Claudia Kishi is 100% the coolest member of the Babysitter's Club – but more importantly, she was a cool Asian character that Asian kids got to see themselves in. Claudia is great at art! She makes bad grades! She has her own phone line! She resists the Model Minority myth in basically every way, and it's awesome that she exists.

24X36: A Movie About Movie Posters
This documentary isn't perfect – it divides its time in a questionable way and there are parts with no sound that could've used some background music. But it's cool! I don't think it had every fully occurred to me that the movie posters prior to the mid-'80s were hand-drawn, and it was interesting to learn about those artists. I also liked learning the history of the screenprint movement since I own several.

Session 9
This movie felt exactly the way RTD episodes of Doctor Who that had psychological thriller themes felt. That eerie but kind-of cheesy, low-budget vibe. If you know you know. Anyway, it wasn't great but it also wasn't terrible. I'd probably never watch it again but I don't regret watching it once.

Rewatch: Clueless. Watched for its 25th anniversary. A classic, but it wore a little thin on me this time.

Urzila Carlson: Overqualified Loser
Decently entertaining! Not laugh-out-loud funny but full of solid jokes. I've thought about the bit with the chips several times.

The Old Guard
I went into this movie not being sure I'd like it at all, much less really like it – but I did! In addition to the fact that I will watch any movie where Charlize Theron beats people up (preferably showing off her biceps), it also has a cool story and I felt very invested in all of the characters. I would happily watch at least one more.

Rewatch: An American Werewolf in London. This is still excellent and rewatching it, I'm more convinced than every that it's Fright Night's spiritual predecessor.

The Host
This didn't wow me in the way Parasite did (obviously), or even in the way Snowpiercer did, but it had some good things going on. It's too long, but it does some unexpected things and, let's face it: it's pretty hard to pull off a real-deal monster movie in general. It gets the job done.

Last Christmas
Listen. I know it's July, and I am staunchly a Christmas-movies-are-for-December person. I also know that this movie's trailer basically completely gave away its twist. But I liked it! It was cute! It was funny! Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding are both beautiful! It will almost give you a toothache, but sometimes that's what you need.

The Dead Zone

I haven't read the book but as far as Stephen King adaptations go, this is better quality than usual. I was really interested in the first half, but didn't love the abrupt direction it took in the second. However, it was fun to watch Christopher Walken when he wasn't quite so ~Christopher Walken~.

Ghost Stories

Here's the thing about this movie: It's very good until it isn't. I was super into the story, trying to figure out the clues, very impressed by the horror elements. And then it decided to be something else – and the second it did that, I hated it. I'm admittedly not much of a fan of absurdism, nor the particular plot device this film eventually employs, but it was super annoying to watch this good movie turn bad.

This month in attempts: Winchester (I made it 30 minutes and even that was excruciating), Voyeur (I was bored and also weirded out, less by the concept and more by the almost impressed tone).

That thing I said about being starved for something sweet (or soft or comforting or just not freaking depressing)? It's spilled into my TV watching. I watched all of Netflix's Say I Do, which is Queer Eye but with weddings. I also watched all of Netflix's new Babysitter's Club series, which The Hollywood Reporter accurately described as a "sunny, synth-y pastel tween wonderland that makes you feel like you're stepping into a colored-pencil drawing." I'll take everything Claudia Kishi owns, thanks.

On the flip-side, I've also been watching HBO's I'll Be Gone in the Dark, which is about as opposite from BSC as you can get. But the tale of the Golden State Killer is fascinating, as is Michelle McNamara's unyielding pursuit of his identity. The series has also touched on larger issues of misogyny in ways that I find very interesting. 

Also been doing a casual, comforting rewatch of Buffy because sometimes what the heart needs is high school drama, quippy one-liners and vampires in leather jackets.

In books, it's been all mysteries. I finished The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, which I mostly enjoyed. Grady Hendrix has a way of writing truly gross things that is simultaneously off-putting and commendable. Then I speed-read two more Riley Sager books, The Last Time I Lied and Home Before Dark. No one is better than Sager (so far) at making me think I know things and then being like "lol, you thought." Now I'm reading The Hand on the Wall, the finale of Maureen Johnson's excellent Truly Devious trilogy.

Finally, here's how summer sounds so far – plus folklore, duh.

My June in Media

This month, I tried to seek out films that would either educate me or challenge me in some way – even if sometimes that just meant trying a genre I'd never had an interest in before.

I watched a lot of movies in June, and I'm kind-of proud of how varied they were.

Moonlight
I waited too long to watch this movie, but this particular June 1 seemed like the right time. It's beautiful, from its story to its shots.

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
I had wanted to see this movie basically my entire life, and it lived up to my own hype. Joan Crawford gives a good performance as an eternally anguished faded movie star – but this film is all about Bette Davis, who is mesmerizing as the depleted former child star Baby Jane Hudson, a woman whose every screw has come loose.

The Grand Budapest Hotel
This was a delight to behold. As is to be expected from Wes Andersen, it's visually charming, but it's also fun and unpredictable – a comfort watch even during a first-time viewing. It was also very enjoyable to watch Voldemort play a dandy.

Rewatch: Juno. A formative film, heavily quoted when I was in high school, but also genuinely good, and touching.

Blade Runner 2049
Hm. The sci-fi itself was interesting, both an echo and modernization of the OG Blade Runner, and the story was engaging, with a surprising and well-earned twist. But I was unsettled by the fact that every woman in this movie is either exploited, murdered or both. Sometimes, it felt logical in the story, sometimes it didn't – but it always felt excessive, especially when paired with the stunning amount of boobs this dystopian sci-fi film manages to include.

Rewatch: When Harry Met Sally... Immediately after watching Blade Runner 2049, one of Tim's favorite films, we watched this, which is one of mine. I figure if you're going to force your boyfriend to watch a rom-com, it should be the blueprint for all the rest.

Rewatch: The Truman Show. Watching this these days feels like watching an early episode of Black Mirror, but with more heart. The story holds up, and the cinematography is even better with time.

Spirited Away
Before this, I had never watched anything anime – unless you count My Life as a Teenage Robot, which was sort-of anime adjacent and which I'm sure no one would count. The story of Spirited Away was a little overlong and I think certain things could've been cut down, but I'm sure I wouldn't have noticed as a kid. I thought the backgrounds and music were lovely, and as an eternal mega-fan of Megara, I was delighted when Lin turned out to be voiced by Susan Egan.

The Master
I don't know why this movie exists. Nothing substantial happens in it. Of PTA's eight feature films, I've now seen five and this one was the first where I couldn't find anything remarkable.

Shirley
I was concerned this might be the latest horror-adjacent movie to rely too heavily on atmosphere and forget to tell a story. Thankfully, it doesn't. It is moody and exists in a weird gray area of genres, but it's interesting in the way it subverts the idea of a "biopic" and I was into how it's as much, if not more, about society’s impulse to label a woman crazy as often as it can.

Enemy
Can a movie frustrate you without leaving you dissatisfied? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. This one is a yes. I was super engaged in the mysteries of this movie and when I finished it, I was confused – just like the writers and director intended. Tim and I spent at least half an hour discussing what ~it all means~ and the pros and cons of stories left up to interpretation. This movie is good, and perhaps the main reason is the conversations it facilitates. No one knows the right answer – which is both frustrating and fun.

Dream House
One of the greatest joys in life is watching a horror movie or thriller that is bad. It can't be the worst thing you've ever seen because then you just regret watching it, and it can't be too interesting because then you'll be annoyed when it stays bad the whole time. But to watch a movie you have no expectations for unfold in hopefully bananas ways is *chef's kiss*. This movie isn't good, and that makes it fun to watch.

Pan's Labyrinth
Something to know about this movie is that it's not quite as fantastical as it appears. It's at least 50% a war movie, though the fantasy is its strength, with its weird, sometimes terrifying visuals and Danny Elfman-ish score. But my issue with this film – which I did mostly enjoy – is I spent a lot of time wondering who it's for. It is not kid-friendly: it's rated R and features pretty serious gore, plus those scary visuals. But I still frequently forgot it isn't a kids' movie because fairy tales inherently are, serious IRL problems included. It's a weird movie that left me feeling a little weird in a way I didn't expect. Maybe that makes it great? I don't know.

Rewatch: Crimson Peak. I liked it more this time because I liked it for all the reasons I did last time, and I was prepared for the reason I didn't.

Rewatch: Knives Out. Truly fantastic. I will watch a million more movies with Daniel Craig as this character, preferably with Ana de Armas as his Watson.

Circus of Books
My 100th movie of 2020! I learned a lot from this doc about a couple who basically stumbled into...the gay porn business, of all things. It's got it all: free speech violations, gay liberation and a message about community. However, I do wish it spent a little more time on what the shop meant for the gay community than it does on the fact that the woman who co-owned it is actually kind-of homophobic.

13th
I can't say anything about this documentary that hasn't already been said. It is fascinating, illuminating and horrifying.

A Secret Love
This documentary, on the other hand, is lovely. It tells the story of an incredible lesbian couple (one of whom was a real-life baseball player like in A League of Their Own!) who loved each other in secret for more than 70 years. Equal parts heartwarming and heartbreaking.

The Hate U Give
This runs a little long and the ending is a little hokey, but it doesn't waste much of its time and I found it to be an effective, impressively multilayered story with extremely good performances by everyone involved.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
David Fincher is probably my favorite director, and this is definitely the weakest of his films that I've seen (I've seen all but two, and I think I'm going to continue to pass on Benjamin Button and probably also Alien 3). It had some good things going on, many of them Fincher trademarks. But there was a lot of fat that could've been trimmed. It lost its thread too many times. And several bad choices were made, one of them deeply unsettling and not in the good ~thriller~ way.

Disclosure
Everyone should watch this documentary. It's a comprehensive (but I'm sure not exhaustive) analysis of trans media representation of the past and present – told by trans people. I've never seen anything like it because there's never been anything like it.

House
Speaking of things that are unlike any other things: this movie is Something. Every description of its plot is comically banal ("some girls stay at a house that turns out to be haunted") but it's anything but. It is technically a horror movie, but it made me laugh harder than anything else I've watched in months. It's absolutely bananas in the best ways, I can say no more, watch it immediately.

Athlete A
America loves winners and it typically doesn't care how you get to the top, as long as you do. Such was the case of USA Gymnastics and the child abuse it allowed and then hid. This documentary isn't an easy watch, but it's a worthy one. There are one or two things I think it could've (perhaps should've) done differently, but its effective. Also, as I said about Bad Education: I do like to see the importance of journalism put on display.

Escape From New York
Honestly, this movie is pretty boring. Not unlike Blade Runner (which came out the following year), I get why it's Important in terms of its genre, but I kept waiting for it to be something else. However, Kurt Russell's look in this movie consists of: skintight pants, a tank top, knee-high boots, an eyepatch and long, feathered hair. So, there's that.

The Thing
The second in a Kurt Russell/John Carpenter double-feature. I loved this one. One of my favorite things is when a (typically '80s) movie goes completely off the wall with over-the-top, weird, gross practical effects. It brings me a visceral joy. This one doesn't hold back, and I was grinning basically the whole time. Practical effects forever, y'all.

Rewatch: Batman Forever.  I'm so serious when I say this is my favorite Batman movie.

Rewatch: Batman & Robin. Is this movie "good"? Not exactly. Does it deserve to only have a 3.7 on IMDb? No! People need to watch more bad movies because this one is actually fine and, more importantly, features Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy.

I also watched some TV this month, I'm sure, but I honestly didn't keep track. I also read some (but not enough) of The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix.